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Yes, but they really don't. They come there for EVERYTHING, as a cited in my post. That's why waiting times are horrendous at times: people use them as their general care physician. As frustrating as it is for patients, it's also frustrating for hospital staff, because most of us are there NOT to care for acne 'emergencies' but rather to take care of people with heart attacks, strokes, etc.
Yes, but they really don't. They come there for EVERYTHING, as a cited in my post. That's why waiting times are horrendous at times: people use them as their general care physician. As frustrating as it is for patients, it's also frustrating for hospital staff, because most of us are there NOT to care for acne 'emergencies' but rather to take care of people with heart attacks, strokes, etc.
And if you have no insurance you'll get a bill!
I believe the ppl who come for everything are offset by the numerous ppl who are sick and never come to the ER at all. I know I'm one of them. The ppl who come for acne cream or hangnails and don't mind waiting 2 hours are very likely mentally ill and just don't know it. Anyway I guess I'll try my luck at Eye and Ear. Btw do they mail the bill to you or do they hand it to you right then and there?
P.S. What's with not being able to edit messages here after a while? I wanted to edit something in my first post but can't now.
I believe the ppl who come for everything are offset by the numerous ppl who are sick and never come to the ER at all. I know I'm one of them. The ppl who come for acne cream or hangnails and don't mind waiting 2 hours are very likely mentally ill and just don't know it. Anyway I guess I'll try my luck at Eye and Ear. Btw do they mail the bill to you or do they hand it to you right then and there?
P.S. What's with not being able to edit messages here after a while? I wanted to edit something in my first post but can't now.
No, they're not mentally ill at all! They think they're being clever! They'll both hand you a bill and, since they have your ID information, etc. they follow up with a mailed bill.
Don't forget bureaucracy clogging up emergency rooms. My husband slipped at work due to poor maintenance and wanted to go to our regular doctor the next day - but because it happened on city property, if he had not taken an ambulance to the ER at the moment, he would have waived all rights to his work insurance covering the treatment for any injury he had sustained. It was a ridiculous waste of time and money.
We had no intentions of suing (I think personal injury lawyers are killing this country), but we did want to have some protection in case he had fractured something.
P.S. What's with not being able to edit messages here after a while? I wanted to edit something in my first post but can't now.
It's a good idea to Search, or post questions, about how City-Data works in the Administration Zone, in the About The Forum forum.
There's a time limit to being able to edit one's own posts; it's around 90 minutes, I believe. But you can get accurate info if you Search in the Admin Zone or ask there.
You guys heard about that lady that died in the Emergency waiting room in Brooklyn. Security guards just walked right by her when she was on the floor. Man, that was sad.
Any kind of ER should still have *noticed* a patient was dying, dying and then dead in the middle of the waiting room.
Having a psych problem is not grounds for being left to die while waiting for care in an Emergency Room. (At least now she gets to pass her eternal wait lying down rather than dead in one of those horrible plastic chairs.)
I have visited emergency rooms in New York three times. Once for sudden internal bleeding, once for a very sudden and first-time-ever allergic reaction to shellfish -- I was swollen up til I looked like a giant bumpy raspberry and was having trouble breathing -- and once for a life-threatening biliary duct obstruction that turned out to be caused by a giant lethal foodborne parasite stuck in my liver.*
Anyway, the first two times I sat in the waiting rooms for 4+ hours before deciding that if I was going to die I would rather do at at home in some modicum of comfort, physical and psychological. So I waddled back on out and splurged on cabs home. The third time I don't know how long I waited, because I was unconscious between calling 911 and waking up with an ER doctor telling me I seemed agitated. (I was -- I was in so much pain I was writhing around trying not to scream out loud. Luckily a nice male nurse noticed and gave me some morphine. Never had any opiate before, but I must say for agonizing pain they are a blessing. As are competent nurses.) They did admit me to the ER then, clearly, probably the good paramedics' doing since they did all the talking while I lay there lights out. I was in that hospital for three days; and lived. Though the parasite went undiagnosed for a few months yet. But I caught signs of the bugger eventually. So I guess that tale ended well.
I took as the moral that the best if not only way to get into a Manhattan ER in under 5 hours is to be dying obviously and make noise abut it, or to be carried in by paramedics on a gurney deeply unconscious and with ragged vital signs. Good luck!
* Side note: Only if you cannot live without sushi would I remotely recommend eating it in Asia. Very fresh and prepared by an exacting sushi chef is actually worse, because he might be aesthetically displeased at freezing the fish first. Necessary to kill the microscopic eggs of liver flukes, which are endemic in Asia and found in undercooked seafood. Undetected, as they usually are in the US, the flukes eventually cause fatal liver cancer.
Anyone know of a "good" emergency room I can visit that isn't overcrowded and understaffed and actually willing to really look me over? I live in soho. Many years ago I actually left the one at Bellevue despite the fact that I screwed up my knee because the wait was simply too long. I can't imagine someone just sitting there and dying before they actually get to you. Would I have better luck at night, etc? What are some hospitals I should consider? I don't have insurance btw.
Complain also about pain in the middle of the chest that is radiating in the arm and you get immediately a bed and an ECG taken.
If you're looking for a hangover remedy VALIUM prescription Bellevue is not the place anymore. They have a new strict policy.
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